Pope warns religious against becoming attached to money because of decline in vocations

Francis marked the conclusion of the Year of Consecrated Life by encouraging obedience and warning religious against anarchy, which is “the demon’s daughter”, and against the “terrorism” of gossip

Francis concludes Year of Consecrated Life.

Leggi anche

Pubblicato il
01/02/2016

Ultima modifica il 01/02/2016 alle ore 16:58

iacopo scaramuzzi

vatican city

Pope Francis warned the 5,000 men and women religious whom he received in an audience for the conclusion of the Year of Consecrated Life, against becoming forming an attachment to money which is “the devil’s dung”, as a reaction to the decline in vocations (a “sterility” that must not lead to the temptation of “desperation”). He urged obedience because anarchy is “the demon’s daughter” and “closeness”, first and foremost the closeness between religious brothers and sisters, steering clear of the “terrorism” of gossip in religious communities.

Francis set aside his prepared speech (“it’s a bit boring reading it, I prefer to speak to you from the heart, ok?”) and spoke off the cuff, emphasising three keywords: prophesy, closeness and hope.

Speaking of hope, the Pope said, “I must confess to you that it is really hard for me to see this drop in vocations, when I receive bishops and I ask them: ‘how many seminarians do you have’? And they respond: ‘four, five…’, when you in your female and male religious communities tell me you have one or two novices and I see the community aging, when there are big monasteries run by four or five elderly nuns, right until the end, I am tempted to lose hope. ‘But Lord, what is happening? Why is the womb of consecrated life becoming so sterile?’ Some congregations perform the artificial insemination experiment - the Pope said, to the amusement of all present – what do they do? They receive (indiscriminately, Ed.), ‘come, come’, and then problems arise… we need to take this task of receiving seriously and be fully aware of the fact that this is a real vocation and help it grow. I think that to overcome this temptation of desperation which sterility brings, we need to pray more. Pray tirelessly. I find it does me great good to read that passage from the Scripture, where Hannah, Samuel’s mother, prays, asks for a son. I ask you this question: in the face of declining vocations, does your heart pray with this intensity? ‘Is our congregation lacking male and female children?’ The Lord, who has been so generous, will not go back on his promise, but we must believe, we must knock at the door to his heart. Because when a religious congregation sees it does not have children and grandchildren there is a danger – it’s unpleasant but I must say it –, of it forming an attachment to money. As you know, money is the devil’s dung, but when they do not have the grace of having vocations and children, they think money will save the day, they think of old age, ‘I must make sure I want for nothing”. And so there is no hope. Hope is in the Lord alone, money will never give you hope, on the contrary, it will bring you down”.

Concerning “prophesy”, the Pope honed in on the subject of “obedience”: What we need, the Jesuit Pope said, is “strong obedience, not military obedience, no, that is discipline which is something else. Instead we need an obedient heart that is giving: this is prophesy. ‘You don’t feel like doing something?’ ‘Yes, but the rules say I should do this and that and the provisions say this and that’. If I don’t understand, I speak to the father or mother superior but after dialogue, I obey. This is prophesy against the seed of anarchy which the devil sows. ‘What do you do?’, ‘Whatever I like’. Anarchy inside the will of a person is the child of the demon, not of God,” the Pope underlined. “The Son of God was never an anarchist, he never asked his parents to stand up to His enemies, He said so to Pilate: ‘if I were a king of this world I would have called on my soldiers to defend me’. No, he obeys His Father – ‘if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will’ – even when he has to tell you something you may not wish to hear,” the Pope said passing his hand along his chin: “my Italian is very poor sometimes, I have to speak in sign language”.

Regarding “closeness”, religious are “consecrated men and women, but they do not choose this path in order to distance themselves from people and have a comfortable life, no. They choose this path in order to better understand the lives of Christians and non-Christians, their sufferings, problems and the many things that can only be understood if a consecrated man or woman gets close, though closeness. ‘But father, I am a cloistered nun, what should I do?’ Think of Mother Thérèse of the Child Jesus, patron saint of missions. With her zealous heart, she was close to people, the letters she received from missionaries brought her closer to people. Becoming consecrated does not mean moving up one, two, three steps in society. It is true, we often hear parents say: “you know father, I have a daughter who is a nun, I have a son who is a monk,” and they say it with pride, it is true, having consecrated children is a source of pride for parents. But the consecrated do not see it as a life status that makes me look down on others. Consecrated life must bring me close to people, physically and spiritually, getting to know people.” Who is a consecrated person’s closest neighbour? The brother and sister of your community, this is the person closest to you. This is a lovely, good and loving closeness. I know there is no gossiping in our communities,” the Pope said ironically, sparking applause among his audience. “One way to drive your brothers and sisters of your community away from you is through the terrorism of gossip. Pay attention: not gossip, the terrorism of gossip,” the Pope insisted, because “gossips are terrorists within their own communities; they drop words against this or that person, like bombs, and calmly walk on: whoever does this, destroys like a bomb and then moves away. Regarding this, the Apostle Santiago said that the most difficult human virtue for a person to have is keeping their tongue on a leash. If I get the urge to say something bad about a brother or sister, to drop a gossip bomb, then I must bite my tongue hard,” the Pope said amid new waves of applause. “If you drop the gossip bomb on your community, this is not closeness, it means waging war, creating distance between people, sowing anarchism in the community. If, in this year of mercy, each of you manages not to be a gossip terrorist, this would be a great triumph for holiness in the Church.”

Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, introduced the meeting underlining amongst other things: “We know there are still many who are laving behind the religious life, in many places there is a marked fall in the number of vocations, others are struggling, but in this Holy Year we see a renewed hope and trust in the Lord.” Braz de Aviz underlined that the Year of Consecrated Life marks involves path of conversion also in terms of the use of money and property. The dicastery’s secretary, Mgr. José Rodriguez Carballo, thanked the Pope for the Year of Consecrated Life which draws to a close today (29 November 2014 – 2 February 2016).

“You are called to proclaim God, with your life more than with words.” Pope Francis emphasised this in his address to the religious, priests and nuns whom he received in audience in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican for the Jubilee of Consecrated Life. He handed the speech to Cardinal João Braz de Aviz for the occasion. “If God is sometimes rejected, marginalised or ignored, we should ask ourselves whether we have been transparent enough, showing not the face of God but ours instead,” the Pope warned, preaching the importance of three key elements: prophesy, closeness and hope. The Pope urges them to “be close to every man and woman”, recalling that “following Christ means carrying the wounded we find along the way, going in search of the lost sheep, being close to people, sharing their joys and pain, showing God’s paternal disposition and the maternal caress of the Church through our love. No one should ever feel that you are distant, aloof, closed and therefore sterile”.